Rutgers Says Male, Female Students Can Share Room

I wanted to lighten it up a bit considering all the madness in the world and for the sake of my spinny head. Rutgers is saying YES to gender neutral housing. It’s about time! Oh relax, prudes. The world is not going to end. Not now, anyway.

Way back in the day in the dorms, some of those in our hall would complain about how their roommate’s girlfriend or boyfriend was there all the time. I think they would have loved this idea. Let the happy couple live together. They’re practically living together anyway. The other roomate can study, get some sleep, and actually spend time in their room without feeling uncomfortable. If they are able to change during the year, I’m sure those couples could probably get a lot of help moving.

This is making me reminisce about those fun, carefree days. My dorm was a 10-story U-shaped building. On each floor, there was one wing of dorms, a gathering area, and another wing. The wings faced each other. The rooms housed two students. For those lucky enough to be chosen from the pool of applicants, they could get one of maybe 5 single rooms.

Next door, a sweet gal with a penchant for tie dye tank tops and beads in her hair had one of those coveted rooms. Her boyfriend was over there almost every night. I would wander over to the gathering area or the other wing and hang out with some of the guys/gals. This was pre-internet where you actually had to talk to people in person. One of them said, “You might want to tell her (the girl with the single room) to blow out the candles.” Apparently, the other wing could see activity in the shadows.

Now, these co-ed bathrooms are a different story. The guys who didn’t grow up with sisters may get irritated at the wait time of the “higher maintenance” gals. Works both ways, though. The guys might forget to put the seat down. Might be hard to remember if you are sleepily walking to the stall, ladies.

This is going to be one interesting experiment for Rutgers. Columbia and the University of Maryland already offer this option. If you live in a U-shaped dorm, remember to blow out the candles.